Music Previews Feb 2018

The Manchester-based leftfield piano trio are on tour once more, performing music from their forthcoming Blue Note Records release A Humdrum Star. Their music has been described as acoustic-electronica, but they draw equally from rock, jazz and minimalism, along with a few game soundtracks and bits of glitchy pop, to create their unique music. It’s music for the heart, head and feet and saw their album v2.0 shortlisted in 2014’s Mercury Prize. Live, they bring a shower of looping riffs, divine bass drones and wobbling percussion booms. This is jazz, not the chin-stroking noodling of old, but a vibrantly up to date interpretation produced and performed with a stridently intelligent stadium rock ethos.

JAKE BUGG

Tues 13 Feb

Brighton Dome

The prolific Nottingham songwriter has made some big stride, since his eponymous debut way back in 2012, by existing just outside of the mainstream music industry and it’s daft expectations. Last year’s Hearts That Strain proved that he remains a very powerful and versatile lyricist. He now seems to be eschewing grim northern reality for the subtle charms of Americana. Across the latest offering is healthy doses of both country and western, and soul. It’s a brave move from a British musician, but one which is paying dividends, both in displaying the considerable depth of his talent and allowing him even greater freedom to explore what he wants to be as an artist.

LONEY DEAR

Weds 14 Feb

The Hope & Ruin

In the early 2000s, in his Stockholm apartment studio, Emil Svanängen made a name for himself by creating homemade CDrs with a minidisk microphone and a home computer. He self-releasing albums which attracted the attention of legendary US label Sub Pop by 2007. Subsequently they released three albums, giving this ‘brilliant genius’ the platform he needed. Loney Dear has consistently crafted elegant, deeply stirring music. It’s multi-layered with instrumentation and Svanängen’s fragile yet irrepressible vocals, Loney Dear’s songs bloom with a sense of both intimacy and openness, at once uplifting and heart-breaking, tenacious yet tender. Now, after last year’s eponymous seventh album, he finds himself at a crossroads in a career which has been as unique as his music.

F.O.D

Weds 14 Feb

De La Warr Pavilion

They took the audience by storm on the BBC Introducing stage at Glastonbury, and are consistently reeling new fans in from every area they expose their sound. The RPMs formed in Brighton and have been described as ‘spookily young, with killer melodies and an Arctic Monkeys rasp” by the BBC. This cheeky trio began out in Dorset when Jack Valero (lead vocals, guitar) Callum James (drums and backing vocals), and Miguel Cosme on bass and backing vocals collaborated in jam sessions. They experimented with tongue in cheek lyrics, their favourite influences and their own pure talent and ambition. Having taken part in a load of heavy gigging since the indie/rock band officially began only a few years ago, they are destined to go places, making a positive impact on everyone and everywhere they go.

THE DAMNED

Weds 14 Feb

De La Warr Pavilion

Over forty years since their initial explosion across the fledgling London punk scene, and some ten years since the release of their last studio recordings, British punk legends The Damned are set to return in 2018 with both new material and an extensive UK tour. The band have signed a new deal with Search And Destroy/Spinefarm Records and are set to stun the music world once again with Evil Spirits, a dizzying blend of highenergy punk rock, creative psychedelic pop and classic songwriting. BMG are also releasing a limited-edition set of their early work, entitled Stiff Singles 1976-1977’ it features five 7” singles from the band that defined British punk rock.

GENO WASHINGTON AND THE RAM JAM BAND

Weds 17 Feb

Lewes Con Club

Geno Washington is still the ultimate 60s soul man, enjoying cult status in soul, blues and R‘n’B scenes – mainly due to his unsurpassable reputation as a live performer. A contemporary of Georgie Fame, The Small Faces and Jimi Hendrix (all of whom were his support acts in the day), he’s as electrifying today as ever, a force of nature and a genuine joy to behold. The true king of the swingers, Washington is the incarnation of all things 60s. Hipsters and flipsters, movers and shakers alike, all will have a great time when the good time guru gets his army of fans on the good foot! The old Geno magic still drags them in and sends them home high.

MARTIN CARR

Mon 19 Feb

Prince Albert

The criminally under-appreciated Martin Carr should be less of a cult star. His is not outsider music, but great music full stop. It’s genre-spanning, kaleidoscopic, uplifting and melancholic, from electronic to acoustic – usually within one song. His latest release New Shapes Of Life has been receiving lots of attention for its perfectly understated 31 minutes of beauty, pain, imagination and scope. He offers a back catalogue which is rich and diverse and goes back nearly 30 years under various monikers (including a stint as the front-mam of indie stalwarts, the Boo Radleys). You could totally randomly select an hour’s worth of songs to be performed and be completely bowled over.

THE TEMPERANCE MOVEMENT

Mon 19 Feb

Concorde 2

Following a whirlwind few years in which they released two Top 20 albums, toured around the world and shared the stage with such rock megastars as The Rolling Stones, The Temperance Movement are finally back, having been hard at work behind the scenes preparing for an even bigger year in 2018. Their latest long player, A Deeper Cut, is finally out this month. It should offer another deserved slice of their pure blues rock goodness. Featuring the drummer from Feeder, a bassist from Jamiroquai and the guitarist from Ben’s Brother, this bunch has forced their way to the front of the British rock heavyweights. It might be a stripped back affair, but when these guys get up to full steam, there’s not many bands that can match them.

NILS FRAHM

Tues 20 Feb

Brighton Dome

The world-renowned pianist and composer Nils Frahm makes a very rare live appearance at the stunning Brighton Dome, his first show in the city since performing at the Green Door Store back in 2011. The Berlin-based Frahm is blessed with virtuoso talents, which draw from the minimalist tradition. Though he’s still comfortable to move across into jazz and classical territory. He had an early introduction to music, learning the piano throughout his childhood. It was through this that Frahm began to immerse himself in the styles of classical pianists from previous generations as well as the music of contemporary composers, before forging his own musical path through composition.

PACESHIFTERS

Fri 23 Feb

Sticky Mike’s Frog Bar

Instead of taking a well-deserved break in 2017, Paceshifters put the pedal to the metal and release a new album. It took the trio to the far ends of Europe and beyond to let people experience their alternative guitarrock. This three piece’s Waiting To Derail album is a solid piece of Dutch noise rock. It offered a few live tracks, giving us a glimpse of their ferocious stage presence. Through the roar of drums and squealing feedback, they prove they’re a young band with some healthy prospects. In a post-hardcore world, where so many bands just don’t feel like they mean it, here’s the real deal.